SecZim wants capital markets to unlock technology investment. Here's where tokenised real-world assets fit.

Zimbabwe’s securities regulator says the country must modernise its capital markets to fund technology businesses. It is a direction of travel, not yet a set of rules The real story is not one speech. It is that the regulator is saying publicly what kind of market it wants, while the rules for much of it are still being written. The numbers, plainly At the Zimbabwe Economic Development Conference (ZEDCON 2026) in Bulawayo, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SECZim) set out its position. Acting CEO Tichaona Mushambadope said Zimbabwe is “doing ourselves a disservice” if it does not take deliberate action to expand product offerings and modernise its capital markets. He called for policy interventions to strengthen investment channels and help local businesses commercialise innovation. The reporting gives one hard count: SECZim has admitted seven fintech solutions to its regulatory sandbox. They include Ndarama Standard (Private) Limited’s asset tokenisation platform. The regulator has also been developing frameworks for tokenised assets, carbon credit markets and digital financial infrastructure. There are no investment figures in this story. It is about intent. Why it is happening: the mechanism Technology businesses rarely fit a market built mainly around traditional shares and bonds. A factory has machines and stock you can see. A software company’s value sits in code, ideas and future cash flows. A market that only offers familiar products struggles to connect that kind of value with local and global savings. Think of a bank that only lends against land. A talented tailor with orders and a sewing machine may get nothing, because the bank has no way to measure what she has. Capital markets work the same way, and widening the menu of products widens who can be funded. One channel already being tested is asset tokenisation: turning a real asset into digital ownership units. A property or an income-producing asset that is hard to divide is split into pieces, and each piece is a digital record of ownership kept on a blockchain. The asset itself remains the source of value. The aim is to make real-world assets easier to hold, divide and transfer. A regulatory sandbox is the controlled way to test it. Firms operate under the regulator’s oversight, for a limited time, so rules can be shaped by what actually happens. Why this matters Zimbabwe’s other recent stories, from the new SME exchange to companies moving between exchanges to lithium processing, all return to one question: where does investment money go, and in what form? A regulator that names technology and innovation as priorities is saying the answer should include businesses that traditional markets overlook. It also matters for the knowledge economy point. The Bulawayo message was that the country should make use of its intellectual capacity, not only its minerals and crops. That depends on there being ways to finance ideas. What this means for the common person Nothing changes in your savings this week. The effects, if reforms follow, are things to watch. If you are a saver with small amounts: tokenisation is meant to lower the minimum needed to own a share of an asset that normally takes a large lump sum. Any product still has to be assessed on what it actually owns and what it costs. If you run or work for a tech or creative business: a market with more product types could make it possible to raise money without giving a bank collateral you do not have. Nothing in the report says when. If you are a young graduate in software or design: the stated goal is to turn local skills into businesses that attract capital. That is an ambition, not a programme with dates. If you invest in any new product: the rules for digital assets are still being developed, so the protections you would expect from a mature market may not yet be in place. Keep the scale in mind This is a policy signal, not a finished framework. The reporting describes calls to action, not enacted reforms. Sandbox participation is a time-limited testing phase under SECZim’s oversight. It does not give a firm a full commercial licence, and the eventual rules for digital assets are still being developed. Tokenised products carry the normal risks of the asset behind them: its value can fall, income can drop, and there may be little or no secondary-market liquidity. Technology and custody risk apply as well. On sourcing, the conference quotes come from a single outlet, and the sandbox count from another. The SECZim public notice linked in the reporting concerns the Acting CEO’s appointment, not the speech. Disclosure: Ndarama Standard operates in the tokenised-asset space and is one of the firms in SECZim’s regulatory sandbox. This article is based solely on public reporting of the regulator’s statements. Closing takeaway The regulator is saying out loud where it wants the market to go, which is encouraging for anyone who wants capital to reach businesses beyond the traditional ones. The destination is still under construction. What to watch: whether the public statements turn into concrete rules, what those rules require of issuers and investors, and whether any sandbox firm moves from testing to a full licence. Sources: The Financial Gazette on the SecZim position · The Herald on the sandbox expansion